PME Distinguished Quantum Colloquium Series: Zoe Z. Yan, Princeton University

Ultracold molecules are a promising platform for quantum simulation of spin physics due to their long-range interactions and large set of internal states. To understand the complex many-body states that emerge in these systems, both in and out of equilibrium, new experimental techniques are needed to probe molecule correlations in the strongly interacting regime. 

We study the site-resolved dynamics of spin correlations in a gas of ultracold NaRb molecules in a 2D optical lattice. The molecules realize a quantum XY model with long-range interactions. Using a site-resolved Ramsey interferometric technique, we detect oscillations in nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor correlations due to spin interactions. Furthermore, we apply a periodic external microwave field to engineer XXZ spin Hamiltonians with tunable anisotropies. The correlations are measured by dissociating the molecules and detecting the corresponding Rb atoms with single-site resolution using a quantum gas microscope. The techniques presented here open new doors for probing quantum correlations in complex many-body systems of ultracold molecules.

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